


Late Night Snack

by Random954



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Exactly What It Says on the Tin, Gen, Jaime is confused, Khaji Da has a vaguer understanding of his abilities than he likes to let on, and this is the only thing that has a beginning middle and end, i have written over a mil words about, late night superheroing leads to hungry teens, the scarab
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-08-29 17:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16748062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random954/pseuds/Random954
Summary: Jaime is too tired to make himself food, so Scarab does it for him. A sleepy boy + a focused bug = unintended consequences."My apologies..." Khaji Da grit his teeth after speaking through his host's mouth. He did not sound exactly like Jaime Reyes, but he was close enough that it felt unpleasant against his sensors. A cheap Imitation.My apologies, Jaime Reyeshe tried again.This was not my intention.There was no response other than a small increase in heart rate.





	1. Tired boy

**Author's Note:**

> I was gonna edit this more, but then I never would have posted it so...

[This product lacks the proper nutritional value] The Scarab hummed when Jaime got home from patrol that night and started to rummage through the fridge. Jaime shrugged and took the yogurt anyway. It was late and he wasn't in the mood to argue over nutritional value with the alien technology fused to his spine for a fifth time that month.

[If you eat this you will still crave sustenance] The Scarab insisted. Jaime felt a weird sort of push on his mind. Not forceful, but very present as if the Scarab was trying to add emphasis to his monotone voice. [Eating it is a pointless endeavor.]

"I don't really have it in me to make something," Jaime stared at his strawberry yogurt already a little less sure about eating it. Even if the Scarab was mostly talk it was still a supercomputer that could probably calculate how many calories Jaime needed to feel full.

The scarab didn't reply to that, not even to mock Jaime's vague use of it, and he assumed that was the end of the argument. It was as he left the kitchen that the armor came up sliding over his clothes and Jaime freaked out a little.

He cowered behind the kitchen counter hoping that his mom was fast asleep and not in the mood for a midnight snack. Yes, his mom knew he fought crime. No, she'd never seen him in costume. There's a difference between knowing your son fought crime and finding him in the kitchen in a bug mask. Jaime worked hard to keep his hero life and real life separate and he wasn't in the mood to let the Scarab blur the lines over some strawberry yogurt.

"What are you doing?" He hissed hands on the linoleum which he could somehow tell was cool without being able to feel it properly through the hands of his suit.

[Your exhaustion is a result of mental stress and the lack of light] The Scarab told him removing the armor. It's clear that the Scarab was only doing it to calm Jaime down, slow and reluctant instead of the instant snap Jaime knew he was capable of. [Since it is not physical exhaustion you simply need to give me control of the armor and I can move your body to cook.]

Jaime felt like there was probably an argument against that swimming around in his head somewhere. On principal he tended not to let the Scarab control the armor unless it was an emergency. Unfortunately he _was_ very hungry and apparently mentally exhausted and he couldn't get very far past the idea that the supercomputer in his suit was offering to make him food.

"When did you learn how to cook ese?" Jaime asks shifting into a sitting position. There was a large overlap in things that the Scarab said he could do and things Jaime knew he shouldn't let the Scarab do under any circumstances. Jaime had learned to be on the lookout for talents that he couldn't come up with a reason for the Scarab to have. Once the Scarab claimed he could knit and Jaime had to spend an hour detangling Bart from a very creative snare trap.

[I see what you see, Jaime Reyes] The Scarab says sounding a bit miffed that Jaime hadn't immediately taken his word for it. [You are an effective cook and can simply copy your motions.] 

"Carefully that sounded a lot like a compliment," Jaime whispered into the dark kitchen rubbing the heel of his hand into his mask covered eyelid. "...Yeah okay." If the Scarab was just going to copy something he'd seen Jaime do it couldn't end up too disastrous. There's a quiet whir in the back of Jaime's head like an overheated laptop.

[You... are giving me permission?]

"Just until you finish the food." Jaime said his decision growing more firm in his mind. "If you step one foot out of this kitchen I'm never giving you control again."

[Understood Jaime Reyes] the suit rippled across Jaime's body. With a sigh Jaime relaxed, until the suit was the only thing keeping him sitting upright. Jaime watched as his own hands pressed clumsily against the kitchen floor to push him to his feet. The suit pressed against different parts of Jaime's body to move them and in the awkward stumble to the fridge Jaime got the hang of just following through with the movement instead of trying to figure out what the Scarab was doing.

The Scarab wasn't walking so much as keeping himself from falling and the three feet between the fridge and the kitchen counter was filled with so many near death experiences that Jaime simply started to ignore the spike of adrenaline he felt every time the Scarab moved.

Jaime idly considered trying to guess what the Scarab was cooking, but that seemed to take a bit more brain power that he had in him so he simply watched as his own hands stirred a bowl of eggs without any input. It was surprisingly relaxing.

At some point the quick repetitive motions lulled Jaime to sleep.


	2. Panicked Bug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Scarab gets cooking. Cooking gets... weird.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How come panic doesn't have a k but panicked does?

Controlling a human body took more effort than Khaji Da was expecting. Monitoring Jaime’s heart rate and stress levels while also keeping his own internal affairs in order took a fair share of processing power, but it was usually all he was focused on outside of battle scenarios. During battle scenarios he focused outwardly only paying attention to internal emergencies.

Now Khaji Da had to split his attention between the area around his host and making sure he didn’t jostle Jaime Reyes too badly with his manipulations of the armour. Monitoring his personal sensors had been downgraded to emergency alerts.

The majority of Khaji Da’s attention was focused on following a playback of Jaime cooking. The rest of it was devoted to standing without wobbling. Usually when Khaji Da had any sort of control they were flying or Jaime Reyes was handling unimportant things like bracing himself.

To avoid dropping the meal he’d worked so hard to create Khaji Da bypassed the handle and instead decided to grab the pan itself to move it to the kitchen counter. The suit was insulated well enough to handle the heat.

So Khaji Da was confused when emergency signals screamed about an intense pain in his host's hand. If Khaji Da had been human he would have dropped the pan immediately, but AI’s didn’t have instincts. Instead he gently placed the pan on the kitchen counter and stared at his host’s hand.

It was red and blistered. As Khaji Da sent out bionic neocytes to help the healing process he continued to stare at the hand. It shouldn’t have been visible. It should have been armoured and protected and hidden in the suit. Khaji Da was supposed to be piloting the suit.

Khaji Da clearly wasn’t piloting the suit. 

Infiltration units were intended to have the ability to control their host. But there were a lot of things that Khaji Da was supposed to be able to do that he seemed to have no access to. The fact that Jaime Reyes could fight him at all had been enough to convince Khaji Da that total control was completely out of his grasp. "My apologies..." Khaji Da grit his teeth as he spoke out loud. He did not sound exactly like Jaime Reyes, but he was close enough that it felt unpleasant against his sensors. A cheap imitation.

 _My apologies, Jaime Reyes_ he tried again. _This was not my intention._ There was no response other than a small increase in heart rate.  
When infiltration units took control of their host it was supposed to be permanent. The host’s mind was supposed to fade until it might as well have never been there. Khaji Da braced himself against the kitchen counter as he was alerted to another spike in heart rate. He didn’t think it was because of Jaime Reyes.

Taking a deep breathe Khaji Da refused to acknowledge that he could smell the melted cheese in the meal he cooked, a useless sense usually delegated to his host. Instead he slowly pushed the meal onto to a plate and tried to put less strain on Jaime’s heart. Tried to calm down.

“I have completed my task Jaime Reyes,” He announced to the empty kitchen awaiting a response. When none came he carefully laid on the floor and put all his focus on mentally poking at the strange feeling that always lurked under his programming. The weird organic lump that he associated with Jaime Reyes.

It was a long time before something stirred, a vague flicker of annoyance.

“Are you ignoring me Jaime Reyes?” Being ignored was a lot more preferable to accidentally integrating his host. It wouldn’t have been the first time. His host’s so called allies seemed to regard him with suspicion when he talked to himself too often. It was a blatant overreaction considering that 49% of humans talked to themselves. It was hard to get Jaime’s vocal cords under control. Khaji Da’s voice seemed to have risen to a pitch that on Jaime Reyes would have been a sign of emotional distress.

There was another flicker, more confused than annoyed.

“Jaime Rey-” A sharp pain shoots through Khaji Da brain and he reflexively curled up into a ball. It doesn’t work to block an attack that feels like it’s trying to burst his host’s skull from the inside out. Small involuntary noises squeaked out of Khaji Da. Pained whimpering like he was some sort of cornered animal.

“Scarab?” Comes out of his mouth, but Khaji Da didn't say it so it must be. Must be.

“Jai-, Jai-” Pain was a new experience. It’s inefficient. Why alert yourself of a problem in a way that makes you unable to address it. 

His host was back. And it was unpleasant. And it shouldn’t have been. Because Jaime Reyes was alive. And that was good. But It hurt. 

Until the pain faded, growing staticy and distant. 

“Jaime Reyes!” Khaji Da cried afraid that his host was slipping away again.

[...What’s happening?] Jaime asked quietly in their mind, his voice thick with sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title was going to be 'You Ever Hyperfocus so Hard that the Other Person you Share a Brain with Stops Existing' but that was a bit long, a bit spoilery and it didn't match the naming scheme of the first chapter.


	3. All's Well that Ends Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaime gets a little introspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it! A beginning middle and end!
> 
> This is either set before the Reach attack or not canon compliant because otherwise I think Jaime would freak out a bit more at learning his Scarab could control him

Talking made Jaime's head hurt. So did moving and thinking too hard and feeling and honestly doing anything other than being a passive observer of the world around him. So that's what Jaime did, faded back into his own head until he was straddling the edges of sleep and consciousness.

[What's going on] Jaime thought in the vague direction of what he considered to be the Scarab in his mind. It was usually a steady hum of numbers and calculations, but right now it was buzzing like a kicked hornets nest. 

At first there was no response other than Jaime’s body shifting into an upright position without asking him. Something felt off, but Jaime was still tired and his head still hurt, so he didn’t pursue the thought, instead trying to focus on the Scarab.

Jaime rarely felt anything from the Scarab other than that continuous hum of numbers. There were flashes of something resembling annoyance sometimes, brief and swiftly replaced with more mechanical things. Jaime was starting to wonder if he just wasn’t paying attention to the quieter emotion the Scarab felt. There was definitely a small undercurrent of something negative in the Scarab’s part of their mind.

“I did my task incorrectly” Jaime’s voice was sullen and odd. The scarab actually put inflection on his words outside of Jaime’s mind, but it was seemingly at random with strange pauses as if he was struggling to make so many different sounds in a row. The Scarab flexed Jaime’s hand and it stung, but it was a phantom pain. Like remembering a time his hand had been hurt.

[What’s wrong with my hand?] Did his task incorrectly? The kitchen certainly smelt like someone had been cooking. It was hard to see the stove with the way the Scarab was making his body stare at the cabinets under the sink, so Jaime couldn’t really check. Feeling cautious, Jaime tried to uncurl his hand and only suffered a small throbbing headache as he twitched the fingers open.

“Your hand was injured when I failed to maintain deployment of the armour and attempted to move a heated pan” The Scarab pressed Jaime’s hand on the floor. Soon he was tapping Jaime’s fingers against the tile and his nervous energy made Jaime a little more awake. The throbbing headache came back.

[What do you mean you failed to maintain-] Jaime could feel the soothing chill of the kitchen tiles under his hand. It was distant, but it was distant in that same muted way all Jaime’s senses were right now. His suit wasn’t blocking the temperature.

Jaime twitched his head down brain full of pulsing static, and looked at his legs. Covered in nothing, but plain old jeans.

[Where's the armour?]

“I failed to maintain deployment of armour” The Scarab repeated, voice clipped. “My apologize Jaime Reyes.” Jaime finally placed the negative emotion curling around the Scarab’s thoughts. Guilt. 

[So you were controlling… me.] Jaime wondered if the Scarab could feel the guilt too. If he knew what it was. The Scarab once told Jaime he didn’t have emotions and Jaime had quietly thought that was ridiculous because you didn’t fuss so much over things like nutrition and what people thought of them as much as the Scarab did without feeling _something_. Even if Jaime had assumed what he felt were weird alien emotions and not something as human as guilt.

“Affirmative,” The Scarab said. Jaime could faintly feel his nails scrape across the floor and his heart speed up even though he himself wasn’t as panicked as he probably should be. Yes Jaime should say something about the body snatching. The Scarab controlling him should have been horrific, a thing of nightmares, but there weren’t many nightmares where the ‘monster’ curled up on the kitchen floor and apologized for accidentally using your body to cook you food. 

[How long have we been sitting on the floor?] Jaime could feel relief at the subject change ripple through the Scarab’s mind. It was much louder when it was all Jaime was focused on. The Scarab repeatedly flexed Jaime's fingers making small waves of pain ripple across his hand. It already hurt a lot less than it did when Jaime had woken up, which he assumed was because of the Scarabs nanobugs, or whatever they were called.

"I am... uncertain." His presence seemed to fade a bit. As if he were turning away from consciousness to check something else. Jaime waved a hand in front of his face and didn't get as bad of a headache. "An hour." The Scarab announced then he twitched a bit as the throbbing began again. Jaime dropped his hand and tried to lean back toward sleep, the pain sinking back into fuzzy static.

[Why didn't you go somewhere to find help?]

"I was told not to move without permission," Scarab said quietly watching his fingers as he flexed them over and over again. Then, perhaps realizing how human he sounded when his voice was soft and hesitant, Scarab cleared his throat and sat a bit straighter. "Besides I do not require help from your so-called 'allies'."

Jaime laughed, or at least he tried to. The sound morphed into a vague feeling of amusement in his mind.

[I guess not] Jaime slowly pushed forward and the static grew stronger, but as it did the Scarab seemed to notice and pull back. [Did you-] Jaime's ability to think at the scarab shut down as he made it back into complete consciousness.

"Did you finish the food?" Jaime asks out loud wiggling his tongue at the unusual pins and needles feeling taking over his mouth.

[Affirmative, Jaime Reyes] The Scarab says sounding relieved to be back where he should be.

 

 

 

 

 

"Omelets are kinda more breakfast food ese."

[I fail to see how the time of day will impact nutrient absorption for this particular food]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end :)

**Author's Note:**

> can someone come up with a better title for me I'll love u forever


End file.
